Smart Parking - draft appeal - any help appreciated!

iwanttobeyrcanary

Hi all,

I've had a good look at the newbies thread and have combined the template there with the template given on the webpage. Is there any chance you could take a look at the template for me and tell me if I have a decent enough case with the templates to appeal? Or if I've potentially missed an angle?

Situation:
Pulled into car park
Waited in space in car for 17 minutes
Drove away from car park

PCN is ANPR from Smart Parking.

The Driver doesn't even have a good reason for waiting there, their partner needed to pick something up from work, so The Driver waited in the car park with the engine running whilst partner popped in to get it. The Driver now knows it was a stupid thing to do and will be really careful with where they wait in future - just assumed it was a council car park where a traffic warden would move The Driver on if needed... how wrong The Driver was...

Template (Have redacted personal info so it can't be identified as me)

You issued me with a parking ticket on Date Redacted but I believe it was unfairly issued. I decline your invitation to name the driver, which is not required of me as the keeper of the vehicle. I will not be paying your demand for payment for the following reasons:

• The charge is disproportionate and not commercially justifiable.
The amount you have charged is not based upon any commercially justifiable loss to your company or the landowner.

In this case, the £100 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner of £2 for up to 60 minutes of parking. I therefore feel the charge you have asked for is excessive.

• I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

• There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. You must either rely on the POFA 2012 and offer me a POPLA code, or cancel the charge.


• Should you obtain the registered keeper's data from the DVLA without reasonable cause, please take this as formal notice that I reserve the right to sue your company and the landowner/principal, for a sum not less than £250 for any Data Protection Act breach. Your aggressive business practice and unwarranted threat of court for the ordinary matter of a driver using my car without causing any obstruction nor offence, has caused significant distress to me.

• I do not give you consent to process data relating to me or this vehicle. I deny liability for any sum at all and you must consider this letter a Section 10 Notice under the DPA. You are required to respond within 21 days. I have kept proof of submission of this appeal and look forward to your reply.


If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.

Yours faithfully,

---

Questions/supporting evidence...
1. The following is included on the PCN letter -
'Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Parking Eye v Beavis, it has now been established that a Parking Charge Notice issued on Private Land is enforceable. The Court rejected claims that such charges are extravagant, exorbitant or unconscionable and advised that such charges act a necessary deterrent for breach of contract. If you feel you have sufficient grounds to appeal this notice you will find full details of the appeals process overleaf".
Q: This contradicts what I've read elsewhere in the forum, is this part of the letter something they've added in to get around these sorts of appeals do you think? Do I still have a case as above?

2. Signs were visible but certainly not from the car -
A4 signs (not visible from car) up dotted around the carpark against brick walls from the Landowner that say 'If you have not got a ticket, you will be fined. Do not park here waiting for spaces to become available, this is illegal parking and your car will be removed from the car park and fined. If you cannot abide by these rules, then you are not permitted to park here. Parking is at your own risk and **Landowner** ltd will not be held responsible for any grievances'
These posters are definitely not visible from a car, so have included this in my appeal letter.

3. T&Cs are on a very big sign but would have to be stood directly in front of it to read the contents.

4. There is one sign (which I can't link to an image/google maps screenshot to show where it is in relation to entrance, but I do have images if you want to see - either way it is to the right of the entrance of the car park) which I wanted to run by you as it is at the entrance - it states 'Parking Regulations Apply - Please purchase a parkign ticket for the duration of your stay from the payment machine. Then in small writing: see T&Cs on signage throughout car park - it is slightly bigger than A4 size. Plus as I was driving into the car park I wasn't looking at the sign at that time because I was driving the car forwards so it wasn't in my field of vision!!


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I've never dealt with a PCN before and you guys are such a dab hand at this I just wanted to run my template past you, just in case there was an angle I could go at it from or if I've made any mistakes.

I understand that The Driver's reasons for parking aren't as 'evidenceable' (is that word??) as somebody who has paid for a ticket and have come back a few minutes late, but I wanted to check if it's even worth appealing before giving up and paying the bloomin thing.

Coupon-mad

I wanted to check if it's even worth appealing

Always. These are easy to win at POPLA.

before giving up and paying the bloomin thing.

Never, until a Judge tells you to, and it won't come to that.

Why not just use the template in the NEWBIES thread for BPA members? Smart give up when they see it, usually!

iwanttobeyrcanary

Thanks so much for replying.

I did use the BPA template but merged that with another template that was on the MSE page around appeals (merged the two for extra oomph) . I'll shift the BPA template part to the top so it's the first thing they see. Thanks for your advice .

Coupon-mad

another template that was on the MSE page around appeals

I thought I recognised some of the dreadful MSE 'template' that should have been consigned to the bin...honestly, just use the forum one.

iwanttobeyrcanary

I will do, thanks so much for your advice.